Newspaper Page Text
54
THE SOUTHERN WORLD, DECEMBER 15, 1882.
HOHE LIFE IE FLORIDA.
BY HZLIN HARCOCBT.
Eighth Paper.
“What Shall I Head?”
This is a question that has douStless per
plexed every householder and prospective
settler, when breaking up the old home and
getting ready (or the new. “ What shall 1
need there, what shall I take, what leave
behind T”
I.Msa very carious thing to those who
.. kliow Florida as it Is to learn how very wild
and erroneous are the ideas floating about
over the rest of the United States concern
ing their southernmost sister. Only a few
days since, for instance, we read an editorial
in a Northern paper, one too, that should
have known better, in which it was stated
that all Florida houses, outside of the cities,
were built on the edge of swamps, that there
was not enough dry land in the State to per-
njit them to be built anywhere else, that
snakes were everywhere under foot and
when the doors were opened in the morning
the snakes would crawl into the houses.
Only a few days ago, too, the New York Sun
published a letter from one of its regular
correspondents, who, by the way, bears no
savory name in this State, in which a score
of such false statements were made, and it is
quite possible that an idiotic reader, here
and there, may swallow such stories. “ The
fools are not all dead yet,” but fer all that,
we of Florida can well afford to laugh at
these impotent attempts to injure a noble
State that is well able to speak for herself, by
her works.
The tide of immigration that Bet in Florida-
ward, six or seven years ago, and has con
stantly increased ever since, until to-day it
is flowing wide and deep from every State in
the Union, from England, Scotland, Sweden,
is quite strong enough of itself to disprove
all falsehoods and jealous misrepresenta
tions.
Not less wide of the truth are some of the
ideas taken up by intending settlers as to
what articles of household furniture and
clothing they will And use for after reaching
their new home. The idea of perpetual)
summer all the year round is one of these
and, consequential^- warm clothing is left
behind “ packed np," or else reluctantly
given away, and more often than not, when
the mistake is made, the settler does not find
• it out until the very moment when the arti
cle left in the North is needed and then he
and his family suffer from cold.
"Suffer from cold in Florida!” we hear
some of our readers exclaim. Even so; there
are certain months of the year when it is
quite possible to suffer from cold if not prop
erly protected from it, for it is certainly
there to be felt, and we are speaking now of
South Florida too, since that is the objective
point of nine-tenths of all the incoming tide
of settlers.
We shall have more to say concerning the
climate of Florida by and by, but at present
all that concerns us is the degree of heat and
cold as affecting one’s clothing and house
hold arrangements. It is not at all neces
sary that the thermometer should sink to
the freetlng point before the human frame
becomes susceptible to a sense of chilliness a
if that were so, then fires and warm clothing
would be seldom needed in the more south
ern portions of this State. But, as it is, a
temperature much below seventy degrees
speedily chills the blood, if one is sitting
still, and there are many days of the Florida
winter when the thermometer marks far be
low this. The winter temperature of Flori
da is much like that of the typical May and
September of the Middle States—New York,
Pennsylvania, New Jersey and thereabouts.
For over twenty years, in the latitude of
Jacksonville, the thermometer, during Jan
uary, February and March, averaged sixty-
two degreees. At St. Augustine it was
rather lower; fifty-nine degrees, the direct
sea air counteracting the “southing" of this
quaint old town as compared with Jackson
ville. Further south and in the interior
counties the average for winter is about
sixty-eight, sometimes higher, less often
lower. Very rarely a slight film of ice may
be seen early in the morning on water stand
ing exposed. We have seen it twice in
Sumter county during our four Florida win
ters, and once it lasted in the shade, an eighth
of an inch thick, until noon, the thermome
ter marking thirty-one, it had been twenty-
nine at day-light, and that wav the lowest we
have seen it at all. That was our first win
ter, and we felt.as if we had met with a
pretty cool reception in our new home, and
wondered in rather a dazed, dumb foundered
fashion, if this was the way that Florida
winters usually behaved. We felt rather
disconsolate over it until assured by the old
settlers of nine and ten years standing that
they bad never seen such a cold storm before
and they told the truth too. For three days
the wind blew and the rain fell, and the
thermometer fell too, steadily, going lower
and lower, until it reached the point we
have named.
Florida houses are not built for cold
weather, there is so little of it that it would
not be worth while to go the expense of
tight building; still, on all ordinary occa
sions, there is no trouble in keeping warm
and comfortable. But this occasion we have
referred to, was not an ordinary one at all;
such a storm, we are happy to say, was al
most unprecedented. There was a small
stove in the hall, quite enough to take the
chill off the adjoining rooms during the
usual “cool snaps” but now it proved to
tally inadequate; a high, damp, rain-laden
wind, sifting everywhere, which practically
dropped the temperature many degrees low
er than the thermometer marked, it could
not be endured by mortal frames.
The dining table was toted bodily into the
kitchen, fortunately a large one, and as the
floor thereof, like those of all Florida houses,
built as they are of unseasoned lumber was
decidedly open, four pairs of feet, numbed
and cold, led their desperately astonished
owners to the attic, where a legion of com
fortables, bed-quilts and blankets were
hauled out from the resting places where
they had thought to remain in “ inglorious
ease ” and were made to do duty as carpets
in the kitchen; ail of the bona fide carpets
being down in their proper places in the
deserted main house. That made the four
pairs of feet more like themselves, but the
four bodies hugged up close to the big
kitchen stove, and the pine wood was kept
freely burning. Now, this yellow pine, al
most universally used in Florida for cook
ing purposes, has a way, sometimes, of get
ting too much for one if due care is not ex
ercised, there are certain pieces, easily recog
nized, that are very “ fat,” that is, they con.
tain a larger proportion than usual of tur
pentine, and so ignite readily and burn
finely. Being more used to anthracite coal
than to pine wood, we did not realize this
fact, neither did we notice that our supply
of wood was of this fat description, so we
piled it in the stove and by and by the heat
drove us further off, then looking up we saw
the stove-pipe assuming a glowing hue close
to the ceiling where it entered the brick flue;
next we saw something more to our horror,
smoke and flames beginning to curl up from
the ceiling around the pipe. Once a yellow
pine house takes fire theTe is no saving it,
there are no hose carriages or fire engines to
be summoned, and the wood burns fiercely
and irresistibly. The sight of those creep
ing flames scared .the chill blood away; one
ran for a ladder to reach the trap that had
been made in the ceiling to meet just such
occasions as this, another scrambled like a
cat up the partition, on a clothes horse,
plunged through the open trap, and dashed
a pail of water around the blazing pipe hole;
those below got a fine steam bath, and the
one above came down looking like a chim
ney sweep, all over soot and cobwebs, but
no one regarded appearances just then, the
threatening calamity was averted, the fire
was put out and the immigrants were saved
from being made homeless indeed. After
that the flue was lined with a strip of sheet
tin, through which the pipe was made to
pass, and with reasonable care, safety in the
future was assured, and this is just what we
earnestly urge every settler to do, before he
he even kindles a fire in his house. It is an
emphatic illustration of the old proverb,
" that an ounce of prevention is worth a
pound of cure.”
In saying that Florida houses are not built
for cold weather, we do not mean to assert
that there are no houses in the State that
are as weather-proof as a good class of North
ern dwellings. There are some such with
tight windows, tongued and grooved floor
boards and plastered walls, just as cosy and
comfortable in cold weather as any residence
in the North, but these are the exceptions
and not the rule. They are only found where
the owner has a surplus of money, and usu
ally it is the old settler become well-to-do
from the profits of his grove, who is the for
tunate man; although of course among the
incoming settlers, are a few, here and there,
who come for the climate and not to carve a
future, who are able to build jnatsuch a
house as they choose, with every improve
ment and convenience.
Some prefer open fire places, and certainly
there is something cheerful about a great,
roaring blase, with the bright flames leaping
and dancing up the broad chimney. But
then in Florida such a big fire is very rarely
needed, or even comfortable, and all the rest
of the year one is confronted by either the
blackened “hole in the wall" or by the screen
that conceals it. To many it is an item to
be considered that these great chimneys cost
far more than the simple flues needed for
stoves, the difference between fifty and five
dollars being considerable. To our mind
the smafl and ornamental stoves that are
now in the market, costing from eight to
ten dollars, with doors that slide back from
the front, leaving a pretty little grate ex.
posed to view, where the oak wood glows and
sparkles, is far preferable to the old style
of open fire place; the heat can be regulated
as desired, and when not needed, which is
the case for eight months of the year, it can
be removed from sight; it has all the cosy
effect of the open fire-place with none of its
disadvantages.
We have now said enough to show that it
would not be wise to leave all warm clothing
behind when bound for a Florida home,
bring it all on the contrary, no matter how
old or shabby or condemned, in the North
ern home. That is one of Florida’s good
points, the ability to wear out one’s clothes,
even after the new shine is rubbed off, the
fact is, we often think how we should pity
the “old clothes man" if should unhappily
wander down to these regions, he would find
no stock in trade, for everybody wears the
old clothes as long as they will hold together,
keeping the Best for Sunday-go-to-meeting
occasions. He is wise who dresses according
to his occupation, and rough work around
farms is more suitably done in old clothes.
For a year or more before we migrated from
the North, it was a standing joke, when arti
cles of dress became to shabby to wear for
our city home, yet were too good to give up
entirely, to thrust them away into a trunk,
with the laughing remark, “ This will do in
Florida." We hardly expected to see the
Land of Flowers then, but we did, and every
one of those castaway artideshave come into
use, saving something better. Oo thou and
do likewise, oh! future Floridian. It is a
wise plan to follow foT it costs nothing and
saves much. Old coats and pants, old dresses
and sacks,- old waterproofs, old shoes, good
but too shabby to wear in thickly settled
communities, all these are treasure troves in
the wild free life of Florida’s new settle
ments, and do just as well and better, to
knock around in than newer and handsomer
clothing, to whose welfare thought must be
given. The heavy winter flannels that are
worn in our Northern homes are worn by
prudent people in Florida also during the
months of November, December, January
and February; when the temperature rises
the change in dress is made from the outside,
a chilly, bracing day requires woolen cloth
ing in addition to the warm underclothing;
on milder days, and they predominate,
wash dresses for the women and alpaca coats
for the men are in order; then if there
comes a sudden change it is very easy to
replace the heavy outer clothing. The wear
ing of flannel next to the skin is an import
ant factor for the preservation of health, not
alone in Florida, however; it guards the
body against sudden changes of temperature
as no other clothing can do, because it ab
sorbs moisture from the skin, and so rapidly
evaporates it, that when a cool breeze is
blowing, even though one’s outer slothing
may be dripping with perspiration, it never
clings damp and wet to the body, chilling it
“ to the bone ” as the saying is. Gauze flan
nel in summer and heavy flannel in winter ;
these we would advise for Florida, as much
as for a more variable clime.
For summer weather, one wears just the
same as in the north, except that in the eve
nings a light jacket or other wrap of some
kind is desirable, as also very often during
the day if setting out on the porch.
And now we are going to say something
that will astonish most of our readers, yet
we mean it, and it is true. It is cooler in the
summer in Florida than itis in the northern
states, or in any other of the southern, yes,
though it is the most southerly of all.
We will discuss this matter of climate in
due time, but now it is enough to assert this
fact as explaining what we have Baid about
summer clothing Their swiss dresses, that
ladies frequently find occasion to wear dur
ing the northern summers, are rarely worn
on the peninsnla of Florida, because of the
cool breezes that are constantly sweeping
over it from gulf to ocean, and from ocean
to gulf. It is a breeze that is always at odds
with the thermometer, always "giving it the
lie,” in the most reckless manner; for in
stance, one summer day our mater familicu
settled down on the porch to sew, but in a
few minutes rose up and departed in doors,
with the remark that it "was too cool to be
comfortable.” It was mid day in the mid
dle of July, and according to the northern
ideas and northern practice at that hour we
should have been melting with fervid heat.
We looked at the thermometer, and it mark
ed 80°! The breeze and the thermometer were
quarreling as usual, you see, and the breeze
had the best of it; it really was too cool to
sit out of doors, in the shade; and this was
not a rare occasion either. Of course the
sun is hot, so. it is north, with no breeze
three fourths of the time, to temper its rays,
and who does not dread the sweltering,
breathless days and nights of intense heat,
that sandwich the cooler times, all summer
long 7 There is never a night in south Flor
ida, when one cannot sleep, in comfort, or
is compelled to toss, or wander about seeking
a cool spot; more often than not a blanket is
needed before morning.
And now as to furniture. A great many
Floridians live on bare floors all the year
round, but that is not the way the better
classes like to live, if they can help them
selves.
We have heard of settlers, who,before leav
ing their old homes, sold, or gave away all
their household carpets, “what on earth
should we do with carpets in Florida, they
exclaim," do i why, tread them under foot,
to be sure. A Florida house has floors, sure
ly, and they are the better for being covered,
not only for their attractivenses, but for
their owners comfort, there is something ut
terly cheerless about bare floors, that takes
away all the home feeling for a room, no
matter how well it may be furnished other
wise; the intrusive sound of every footstep,
the scraping and thumping whenever a piece
of furniture is moved, carries with it a sense
of discomfort to the ear, as the bare boards
do to the eye. Matting is just the thing for
summer use, and will do very well for the
cooler months also, especially if rags or strips
of carpeting are laid by bed, bureau or wash-
stand, these, give comfort to the feet, and
relieve the otherwise chilly aspect of mat
ting, especially if it be white. These rags
and strips, too, will relieve the dreariness of
a bare floor, if such there must be. But for
those who have carpets, we would say, by all
means bring them along,and lay them on the
floors, if not for all the year, at least for the
winter months, you will be glad enough to
feel them under your feet when the cool
winds are whistling outside, and the cozy
fire is burning merrily inside;' *~
As to furniture; advice on this subject is
more difficult to give, as a great deal de
pends on the point to which the settler is
bound, especially if be has to buy new fur
niture ; if it be near Jacksonville, Palatka,
Leesburg, Saudford, Gainesville, Ocala, or
any of the larger towns; then it would be
well to bring from the north, only such few
heirloom articles of furniture as one is not
willing to part with—carpets, matting, bed
ding, especially hair mattrasses and feather
pillows, pictures, brackets, books, and the
little odds and ends that do not take up
much room, yet goes very far towards mak
ing a home cheerful and restful. It is all a
question of expense, and where the requis
ite furniture can be bought on the spot, it
is usually found that the prices asked for
them are little, if any higher, than the same
things would cost if purchased north, and
brought here by the settler; the freight
charges will make up the difference.
At Jacksonville and Fernandina, house
hold furniture, especially, is almost it not
quite, os cheap as in New York, the reason
being that the merchants have very light
freights to pay on these and other bulky ar
ticles, because they are usually brought
by the lumber schooners, as back freight.
They carry freight to Florida cheaply, as
they would otherwise have to come in bal
last.
Householders near the seaports, Boston,
New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, who al
ready possess the the needful furniture, and
can make arrangements to ship it by schoo
ner to Fernandina, or Jacksonville, will
save a great deal by by doing so, and land
their household goods on their new home
site cheaper than they could purchase them.
When it is desired to ship by schconer to
the nearest point, and that point is south of
Palatka, it is sometimes possible to find a
vessel bound to the latter place. Always,
when it is possible, the settler should ship
his goods at least one week ahead of his own
departure,if he wishes to find them awaiting
him, three weeks, are not too much, if sent
by schooner, and in the latter case, it is
usual to have the goods insured.
It is one of the pleasantest caprices of
modern luxury that women have their bed
rooms and boudoira-furniahed in colors that
will set off their favorite dresses, and add
china to match the bed-room.